I guess I'll introduce my cat first. His name is CeeCee. I didn't name him...my uncle found him in the middle of nowhere and rescued him. It's sort of odd how he got his name. My uncle was camping when he found the cat and didn't know what to call him so he just called him the "camp cat"...CC.

I took him home with me, he ran away as soon as I put him down. He was gone for about 24 hours but came back. I didn't use to be a "cat person" but I think my cat is awesome. He kills birds and chipmunks, let's you know when he has to go to the bathroom, which means we don't need a litter box. We literally just let him outside like a dog lol. He's sort of an outdoor/indoor hybrid. lol He cuddles up to me before bed then leaves...lol He gets along great with my dog and loves my attention...but only mine, and very few family members. He's really skiddish. If he is outside and you go for a walk down the street, he will literally follow you to the end of my street, then turn around and head back home.

Awww, CeeCee is a pretty cat. I think I saw one of your pictures over on the dog park group. I am over there too.

My cat's name is Zena. She is almost 16 years old and she loves to play with shoe strings and she chases an invisible mouse through the house every day. The invisible mouse always ends up under the recliner in the living room and she pulls herself around in circles on the bottom of the recliner with her front claws.

During the day she can come and go as she pleases and she is kept in the house at night. She usually stays in the yard, sometimes venturing to the next door neighbors' yards.

She often wants to sleep with me under the covers which is a little annoying. She will poke me in the head with her paw continually until I lift the cover and let her under.

Once I was not feeling it and I pulled the cover over my head and said "nooo - go away" and she jumped on my head with all her claws out - it was a kitty outburst of rage. Boy, she taught me a lesson lol.

I'm glad my cat does not have that annoying habit of "making biscuits" where they knead their claws in and out of your skin. It's sweet when they do that but it hurts. My cat might do it just a little bit once in a while - ouch.

This was Stoli when I first brought her home. She was 6 months old, and already with a negative balance in life. She had 25 cigarette burns all over her body, and she was scared to death of me and my roommate. I spent three days with her in a small space just giving her love and treats. We had to tape up our fire place and cabinets, close our bedroom doors, and flip our love seat to eliminate hiding spaces in the beginning. It took time, but she healed and she learned to trust us. She's still a bit quirky, but I love her to death. She was still really scared of visitors for a long time, but now she comes out and relaxes with us when we have friends over.

A few years later, my parents asked me to take one of their cats. I'm a behavior consultant, so when they were having problems they turned to me to fix it. My sister found Smokes hiding in a closet after days of her missing. She wasn't eating, she wasn't drinking, and she wasn't leaving the closet to use the litter box. If you picked her up and put her in the middle of a room, she'd tuck her tail and limbs in, get as small as possible, and just shake. I took her home, started her out in my guest bathroom, and put her on a really predictable schedule of visits with food and love and treats. Even in the bathroom, she wouldn't leave her bed except to use the litter box (which was only a few steps away). I slowly placed the food further and further from her bed and then used treats to encourage and reward her for exploring other parts of the room. It took weeks, but eventually I had her walking around the whole apartment confidently. She's such a lover and it's so great to have her as part of the family.

Last but not least there is Nom. She's Smokes' sister. My boyfriend adopted her from my parents when she was just a wee 8 weeks old. She's probably the most well-adjusted of the bunch, but she unfortunately has epilepsy. Her seizures are pretty scary, but they've decreased a lot since we put her on medicine. She's the first one out begging for attention when we have guests, and she's the loudest of them all. She loves to get between us and our electronics. At least when she does stand in front of my laptop she has the loudest purr ever. She cracks me up because she actually kneads blankets, laps, the floor next to your feet (basically wherever) with her back paws instead of her front paws. She has a game piece on her head in this picture because she kept knocking over our pieces while we were playing a board game. She was actually quite casual about having a winged lion on her head.

Well there you have it, my feline family. They're my kids, and I love them to death. We've had some tough times for sure, but it feels so great to see them enjoying life again. I never planned on having three cats, but now can't imagine my life without them.